Telekinesis!- Telekinesis! (Merge Rec)
Telekinesis! is essentially Seattle’s Michael Benjamin Lerner, a 22 year old musician who writes, plays and records all his own music. After studying music in Liverpool, Lerner came back well versed in engineering and with demos that didn't take long to become noticed in the world of independent music. With the help of Chris Walla (from Death Cab For Cutie) he fleshed out these 11 pop songs for his debut.
Clearly influenced by the Beatles, Lerner writes upbeat, happy, power pop songs that could be paralled to bands like Death Cab For Cutie, The Shins or Pavement. Whether he's singing about people or places, Lerner comes off sincere and injects harmonies and memorable choruses while scanning 60's and 70's pop music dynamics. Simply put, unless you despise good music, you would be hard pressed to find yourself not smiling to these songs.
At just over 30 minutes, this is a quick listen. As Lerner moves from song to song of sunny pop fun he occasionally throws in an acoustic number, a piano harmony or even fuzzy guitars. Following suite to everything the Merge label has offered us over the decades, Telekinesis! writes well crafted songs that won't soon find there way out of your head.
An excellent debut from a youngster with an undoubtedly lenghty and luminous career...
